Vertical form-, fill- and seal solutions from GEA have been setting standards for operational reliability since 1953. They are reliable, durable and consistently deliver uptime in excess of >98%. Due to the uninterrupted film transport during sealing and trimming, the continuous motion GEA SmartPackers (CX) are faster than the intermittent models.

GEA SmartPacker CX250

Reliability, durable and consistently delivery uptime

GEA SmartPacker CX250

Working principle

The products enter the GEA SmartPacker from above through the forming tube. The shoulder of the forming tube shapes the flat film into a round or rectangular film tube and rollers guide the film to the forming area. A vertical sealing bar seals the edges of the film tube together and a vacuum transport belt pulls the film through the forming area. Cross sealing jaws then create top and bottom seals in the tube to form a bag.

Maximum speed up to 160 bags per minutes (depending on product, film and dosing equipment).

Up to 160 bags/min

Output quality

Overall, the GEA SmartPacker's continuous film transport system ensures optimal tracking for high-speed operation. Even delicate film materials are transported with ease.

Higher efficiency and less waste compared with conventional machines

Consistent high quality of produced packages

Reliable and smooth film transport

Even delicate film materials are transported with ease

Flexibility

The GEA SmartPacker CX is a compact and flexible vertical packaging machine that offers an extensive choice of packaging options for producing bags directly from the film reel. With a range of materials and format variations, ranging from standard flat pillow bags to more complex quatro seal or doy-style bags, you are sure to find a packaging solution that suits your product.

The GEA SmartPacker has a CE marking. GEA Food Solutions declares that the GEA SmartPacker conforms with the essential requirements of the applicable CE directives.

CE mark

Controls

At the heart of each GEA SmartPacker is the GEA control system. Once the operator has set essential criteria such as bag length, sealing time, speed and temperature, the machine automatically configures itself for optimal performance.

Exceptionally easy to use

Electronic jaw movement control

GEA control system provides maximum versatility with fewer moving parts

GEA SmartPacker has a CE marking. GEA Food Solutions declares that the GEA SmartPacker conforms with the essential requirements of the applicable CE directives.

• CE mark

Controls

At the heart of each GEA SmartPacker is the GEA control system. Once the operator has set essential criteria such as bag length, sealing time, speed and temperature, the machine automatically configures itself for optimal performance.

• Exceptionally easy to use
• Electronic jaw movement control
• GEA control system provides maximum versatility from a minimum number of moving parts
• Requiring very little maintenance

GEA SmartPacker CX400

Maximum speed (bags/min)*, up to 120. *Depending on product, film and dosing equipment

• Up to 120 bags/min

Output quality

Overall, the SmartPacker's continuous film transport system ensures optimal tracking for high-speed operation. Even more delicate film materials can be transported with ease.

• Higher efficiency and less waste compared with conventional machines
• Consistent high quality of produced packages
• Reliable and smooth film transport
• Delicate film materials can be transported with ease

Flexibility

The GEA SmartPacker CX is a compact and flexible vertical packaging machine that offers an extensive choice of packaging options in film producing bags directly from the reel. With a range of materials and our variation in formats, ranging from standard flat pillow bags to more complex quatro seal or zipper bags, you are sure to find a packaging solution that suits your product.

GEA SmartPacker has a CE marking. GEA Food Solutions declares that the GEA SmartPacker conforms with the essential requirements of the applicable CE directives.

• CE mark

Controls

At the heart of each GEA SmartPacker is the GEA control system. Once the operator has set essential criteria such as bag length, sealing time, speed and temperature, the machine automatically configures itself for optimal performance.

Contato

Mark Harris (Production Director Kanes) explains: “Three years ago we carried out successful trials with GEA ultrasonic equipment fitted to our SmartPacker SX400 machine. This gave us the confidence to pursue ultrasonic sealing for our new facility and to place an order with GEA for a SmartPacker CX400 continuous operation machine for the noodle line as soon as it became available with ultrasonic sealing.”

The key to successful ultrasonic bag sealing

GEA Zero Reject System

With more than 250 million film bags ultrasonically sealed on GEA SmartPackers around the world, GEA Food Solutions has demonstrated that it knows how to make this cost-saving sealing technology work reliably on an industrial scale. The key to this success is an innovative technique we developed to ensure the sealing jaws remain parallel as they close on the film, making this Zero Reject Sealing System a front-runner in salad and grated cheese packaging applications.

With a GEA SmartPacker, you can be confident of seal integrity

More than 250,000,000 bags have been successfully sealed on GEA SmartPackers using ultrasonic sealing, so you can be confident that we know how to make it reliably on an industrial scale. To make certain your products are bagged with consistent seal integrity, we have developed an innovative technique for ensuring the sealing jaws remain parallel as they close on the film.

Seal integrity is guaranteed!

Ultrasonic bag sealing on vertical form, fill and seal machines is a welcome innovation for fresh salad and grated cheese packaging applications. It delivers consistent sealing performance even with packaging films as thin as 30 microns. The technology uses extremely fast ‘ultrasonic’ vibrations of one of the sealing jaws (called the sonotrode) to bond the two layers of film together at a molecular level, so that even if moisture, a piece of leaf or a cheese particle remain in the seal area, a perfect seal is still made. With conventional thermal sealing, such obstructions in the seal area may prevent an air-tight seal being made. The resulting reject bag has to be identified and removed, and its contents returned to the product flow. This not only wastes film but it is also labour intensive and costly.

Ensuring the sonotrode and anvil remain parallel

The key to success is to ensure that the anvil remain as parallel as possible as they close on the two layers of film. This not only places extreme demands on the engineering tolerances, it also means that external factors such as climatic conditions influence the jaw positioning or movement, and therefore affect its ability to make a seal. Even if the jaws are a few microns out at one end, the seal integrity is at risk. The GEA technology (patent pending) for controlling the anvil alignment eliminates the influence of those external factors. This also means that bags of different widths can be sealed using a single-width anvil jaw. The result is a consistent seal over the full width of the bag. This unique GEA technology has been proven in practice around the world.

Trend-setters in reliability

GEA Zero Reject System Bags

Film evaluation and trial runs

There is another factor that is critical for seal integrity, and this is the film being used. Even films with similar thickness and specifications can vary in composition and therefore sealing performance, so it is essential to optimize the machine set-up for a specific film. GEA offers you the possibility to evaluate the film you use, and determine how to get the best results. We have a fully equipped Technology Center with GEA SmartPackers available to run trials with your film and products.

Trend-setters in reliability

GEA SmartPackers have long be recognised as trend-setters in terms of machine reliability and uptime, and now with the proven ultrasonic sealing capability, they offer best-in-class performance for applications such as fresh salad, grated cheese and other applications where obstructions or droplets in the seal area are a potential source of reject bags. GEA SmartPackers with the ultrasonic Zero Reject Sealing System are available as intermittent operation (SX) machines for lines applications where the flexibility to produce several different products or bags sizes per shift is needed; and as continuous operation (CX) machines for where high packaging speed is the main concern.

Technology leadership

For the ultrasonic components, GEA works closely with Sonotronic, a market leader in ultrasonic welding with 35 years’ experience in a range of industrial applications. We have coupled their expertise with our own experience in designing and manufacturing extremely reliable packaging machines. We also make use of advanced simulation software that shows exactly what happens on the machines as they operate at high speed, thus enabling the technology to refine in the most cost effective way.

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TechnologyTalks

Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is an innovative way of packaging perishable food, which extends the product’s shelf life. MAP is used to package meat, poultry, fish, salads, whole and cut vegetables and fruits, as well as processed and convenience foods, bakery products and dairy. To improve quality control and reduce waste GEA has developed OxyCheck as a unique, non-invasive system that checks the oxygen content and seal integrity of every single MAP product on the packaging line.